The man died onstage. But he didn’t die, he was resuscitated and lived another nine years. Tragically, a lack of oxygen to his brain made him semi-comatose for those years. You don’t see his name much these days, or hear his music, so I thought I’d post some.
This song is also an example of what I mean when I contend that the Beatles did not invent sophistication in rocknroll. No doubt the Beatles knew his work. This is from 1958:
And check out this live performance. Mr. Excitement they called him, and Elvis himself copped some moves from Jackie. The band here is stiff compared to the record but the vocal is simply amazing.
In 1994, Alice in Chains released an EP – Jar of Flies — of amazing quality. The album opens with the terrific “Rotten Apple,” with its “Hey ah na na” mantra over a wah wah guitar.
Next is the hypnotic “Nutshell.” It presaged the “unplugged” trend, focusing on acoustic instruments except for the electric guitar solo.
The third song, “I Stay Away,” is just as good. It’s a pretty dark sounding song that takes advantage of a few orchestral flairs (strings and horns) and a spooky vocal by Layne Staley. It was recognized with a Grammy Award for the Best Hard Rock Performance in 1995.
“I Stay Away” is followed by today’s SotW, “No Excuses.”
Lyrically, the song is about the complicated and tempestuous relationship between Staley and guitarist Jerry Cantrell.
It’s alright
There comes a time
Got no patience to search
For peace of mind
Layin’ low
Want to take it slow
No more hiding or
Disguising truths I’ve sold
Everyday it’s something
Hits me all so cold
Find me sittin’ by myself
No excuses, then I know
Then in the last verse, reconciliation…
Yeah, it’s fine
We’ll walk down the line
Leave our rain, a cold
Trade for warm sunshine
You my friend
I will defend
And if we change, well I
Love you anyway
The vocal harmony is complex and arresting.
I’m telling you, you’d be hard pressed to find four songs of better quality at the start of any album. This may support the argument for more Eps rather than albums stuffed with filler.
Writing catchy political song that endure is a fool’s task, but while this Ry Cooder tune hasn’t hit the top of the charts, I think chances are it will eventually.
What I didn’t know when I bought this sort-of Rolling Stones record a long time ago was that it was put out by an a-hole named Allen Klein, who had been the manager of the Stones, capitalizing on tapes he owned the rights to after they broke up.
What I did know when I bought this disk was that it was a pile of awfully good jamming by some awfully good musicians, even if it wasn’t at all polished or shaped. This, I thought, was musicians I liked playing what they wanted, and it sure was sweet.
I posted about It Hurts Me Too, that old Elmore James song, a few years ago, but tonight I found myself back here and this long jam is awfully good. Blow with Ry, because Keith was mad about having a great slide player come in. Okay.
Michael and I went to a show with Mike Meyers, the Spy Who Shagged Me, at the NY Public Library a few years ago, that tried to answer the same question.
Michael’s approach here is a little more data driven than Mike’s (and his brother’s), and at the same time just as arbitrary as everyone else’s. The problem, I think, are the categories. Deriving anything from the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame is bound to get you in trouble.
What are the right categories? Off the top of my head?
Best Album
Best Run of Albums
Live Performance
Influence
Innovation
Songs
I don’t know. It’s hard not to shape the questions to fit the answer you want to give, though I think the answer is the Beatles, even though the Stones are my more favorite band.
Try going with my categories and Michaels and see if you can up with different answers?
Zappa’s big band covers this idiosyncratic hit from the Beatles, and makes it their own. I think they also prove how solid it is as a piece of music, maybe even a song, not just buffery from the cult of the Fab Four. It’s silly, sure, unless the Walrus really is Paul, but catchy.
The Lemonheads strong 1993 album, Come on Feel the Lemonheads, had the Modern Rock hit “Into Your Arms” on it. “Into Your Arms” may be this underappreciated band’s most popular song – except, maybe, their cover of ‘Mrs. Robinson” is better known. That’s all the more interesting because he didn’t write either of them.
The album is a lot of fun, containing some of eye-candy frontman Evan Dando’s finest examples of “bubblegrunge.”.
Today’s SotW is the goofy but catchy, country flavored, “Being Around,” that comes in under 2 minutes!
The lyrics ask a bunch of questions from someone seeking attention from a person he /she wants to “be around.” It sounds to me like an awkward 4th grade boy trying to get a disinterested girl in his class to notice him.
If I was the fridge would you open the door?
If I was the grass would you mow your lawn?
If I was your body would you still wear clothes?
If I was a booger would you blow your nose?
Where would you keep it? Would you eat it?
I’m just trying to give myself a reason, for being around.
Really? Boogers!!! The other verses go on just like this.
The current popular rock star Courtney Barnett covered “Being There” during her 2014 tour. Versions of it can be found all over the internet.
If the album title – Come on Feel the Lemonheads – sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because it was nicked from the Slade hit “Cum on Feel the Noise.” Sufjan Stevens took it a step further with the title of his 2005 album, Come on Feel the Illinoise.
When I first heard this song it was way more punk rock than most punk rock, thematically if not sonically.
When I was in high school I fantasized about blowing the whole place up. Didn’t we all?
This is the conceit of the movie Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, isn’t it?
But the Boomtown Rats endure, and are important and their initial joust doesn’t say much about gun violence, but it sure does crank on the dynamics of mental health and violence and our lives.
